Chapter 04
For a while, he tried to pry more information from the kobold, hoping to learn about this Hiro he was certain was him, but the kobold wouldn't relent. He refused to reveal information about a customer, as that apparently went against his principles.
So, with only the little knowledge he'd secured, he decided a few hours later to take his leave.
He'd come to accept there wasn't much more for him to do here.
Nazim's shop was the beginning of the civilization he yearned for, but it wasn't quite civilization itself, especially given how little the kobold was willing to help him with the very thing he'd sought civilization for in the first place.
Unfortunately, by the time he stepped outside, it was already late at night, so instead of venturing into the dark, he decided to spend the night there.
That decision led him to barter even more than he already had for the Vanguard ammunition.
The sheer logistics of what the kobold hauled out from the back of his shop made him unhesitant to trade some away.
Yeah, it was no wonder the kobold called him a dumbass, back when he'd assumed the sample was all the munitions he'd get for the Vanguard.
Even after the price the kobold had subtracted from the gun, the ammunition still came in crates.
Once bartered for the "upgraded" version of the bullets, those crates shrank down to something that fit a single, compact traveler's case, cutting his carrying weight down to a mere fifty or so pounds. Quality traded for quantity.
As for whether the upgrade was worth what the kobold offered, he went from eighteen hundred rounds total to a hundred and sixty upgraded ones.
He didn't doubt the kobold. His gut told him the guy wouldn't do him dirty, but even if he did, what could he even do about it?
It wasn't like he could carry that much ammunition anyway.
Feeling bolder than before, he slid one bullet from each upgraded variant across the counter and asked the kobold, "I'm curious, what do you think you could get me from the back of your shop for these?
I have no particular request in mind. Anything you have will do.
I promise not to complain, whatever it is. "
Nazim seemed done with him, particularly with the vagueness of the request. He apparently liked precision, and would glare at you for questioning what he'd brought back if your request had been vague to begin with. He nonetheless rolled his dice, and they landed on an eight and a seven.
He didn't know why, but it seemed that whatever you asked the kobold, the odds of it existing in the back of his shop were decided by those dice.
"That's a pretty good roll, right?"
To his question, the kobold nodded and headed to the back of his shop, returning with something rather unexpected.
He came back with a bundle that, compared to his size, looked like it had to be heavy.
But he'd already seen the kobold carry things well beyond his assumed weight category, so he wasn't concerned on that front.
He watched him climb his little stool and drop the package, wrapped in oil-stained oilskin, onto the counter.
Nazim sliced through the twine as easily as a pocketknife would and peeled back the layers, revealing four pristine, glossy-covered publications.
"Nazim, this is..."
"You had a good roll, so I'll give this up to you. You wanted to know what Hiro bartered with me. This is it. A sample of it, to be exact."
"I…I don't know what to say."
"They're just like he liked them. Faceless, and glossy pages and pages of it."
"Okay," he nodded, and began inspecting the books.
There were three of them, each at least three hundred pages long, each glossy as advertised, and each faceless in a peculiar sense.
One was an adult high-fashion magazine, catering to a bold, French expression of art, though mainly advertising a very specific type of garment.
They were faceless in the sense that the models' faces were never shot in the pictures.
The second book was equally artistic, if not more so than the first, since it focused less on advertising a product and more on atmosphere.
Sure, the model's bare cheek was all over the page, so much so you couldn't see her face, but like a wine expert knowing exactly which part of the wine to focus on, he could see the intent behind the camera, the hunger and thirst the photographer had.
As for the last magazine, it was an anthology of half a dozen fast-paced sto—nevermind, let's call it what it is. It's porn, in a magazine featuring actors with pixelated faces, which made him wonder why what you'd expect to be censored wasn't as well.
"So, what do you think, nameless one? Do we have a deal?"
"These, for four bullets?" He looked the kobold in the eyes, then gave him a strangely familiar answer. "We have a deal."
Immediately after securing the magazines, he sat down to look through them on the veranda, which, as far as discretion went around these parts, seemed like the safest bet.
It was there, flipping through these surprisingly insightful books, that he arrived at a realization about himself: he wasn't a man easily moved.
???
Morning came quickly, and soon it was time for him to take his leave, though the kobold revealed that the base of the mountain was still some distance away.
"Say, Nazim, I've been thinking about it. Why exactly did you put your shop here? I'm not familiar with the area, but I don't think this is a good spot for a, you know, a shop."
"You're right now, but some time ago, you'd have been wrong," the kobold said.
"This place wasn't such a bad spot two hundred years back.
It sat tucked in a calm stretch between a dungeon and a monster-infested region, with a fortress erected nearby to handle those monsters.
For a barterer like me, there couldn't have been a more optimal place. "
Two hundred years, he noted. But then the word dungeon echoed in his mind, instantly conjuring memories of the deep, dark abyss he had first awoken in. "That place was a dungeon, wasn't it?"
"If you're talking about the thing whose entrance sits at the top of the mountain, then yes."
You had to have met me—this person, on his way up there, he thought, wanting to press the kobold for more, but by now he knew better than to expect anything beyond what Nazim was willing to give freely. He'd learned the kobold could not be bought, not for the information he sought.
Retrieving a bullet from his holstered Vanguard, he asked the kobold, "Would you have a mirror I could use? I'd like to see what I look like."
He expected the kobold to roll his dice as usual, but instead Nazim simply vanished into the back of the shop and returned with a mirror. "You can keep your bullet, so long as you hand me back my mirror before you leave," he said, sliding it across the counter.
"Thanks," he said, smiling gratefully, before turning to study his own reflection.
Strangely, it didn't invoke what he'd hoped for: familiarity.
He'd wanted to recognize his own face the way he recognized what a dungeon was, the way he recognized what a revolver was.
Instead, the sight only left him with a nagging sense that something was amiss.
"Did Hiro look like this?" he asked the kobold.
He was sporting white hair that seemed neither the result of a perm nor of age, since it looked entirely natural, paired with a youthful face that suggested he wasn't old enough to have earned such hair honestly.
His distinctly Asian features only sharpened that impression, making him look barely eighteen, though something in him refused to accept he was that young. He settled on early twenties instead.
"I told you, he's nothing like you. The sooner you accept that, the better it'll be for you," the kobold said.
"You're saying I should give up trying to find out who you are."
"I'm not. I'm saying you should put a lot more effort into figuring out who you are now, because I—" As if catching himself about to say something he shouldn't, he corrected himself. "That's actually none of my business," he said, motioning for the mirror back. "Do whatever you want."
"I'll do that," he said, handing it over. "And I'll keep your advice in mind."
The kobold only sneered condescendingly at him, prompting him to declare, "Well, Nazim, off I go. See you around."
"I doubt that," the kobold said as he reached the doorstep.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Just get out of my shop." Then, as he stepped through the door, Nazim added, "It was a pleasure doing business, awakened one!
Try not to die out there. Watch out for creatures with too many teeth, too large a beak, or both.
And remember, if you find something valuable, be it something that explodes, melts, curses your bloodline, or starts whispering at night, bring it to my shop! "
"That's..."
"That's just a line I had to say. Now off you go."
"Alright, alright! Bye, Nazim."